Dorking top first Midlands Sensas LeagueDespite terrible weather, ranging from a hard frost in the morning to driving rain, the venue fished extremely well for the first round of this league, with double figures needed to win every seven peg section!Guesting for Kamasan Starlets Nigel Bull led the way with from peg 112 at Barston with 33lb 6oz of skimmers and F1s, all taken on pole and bloodworm at 13m over groundbait. It was a Kamasan Starlets double top as Garbolino's Darren Cox was close behind with 16 F1s and skimmers for 31lb 7oz again on pole and bloodworm at 13m from peg 122 at Barston. Des Shipp produced the best weight from Packington off peg 27 Molands with 31lb 2 oz. Callum Dicks filled 4th with 30lb 6oz of skimmers from peg 12 from Barston.
Drennan Barnsley Blacks win Championship title in the Angling Trust Winter League finalWith the Gloucester Canal coloured up from overnight water movements to the Bristol reservoirs, the 120 competitors of this year’s Angling Trust Winter League Final on July 6th were expecting a few bites, especially after last week’s good practice match. Unfortunately for most it was a struggle and a long wait between bites as most of the fish switched off in the bright and sometimes breezy conditions.
Only with a couple of hours to go did the bream on Hempstead Bend start to feed and four anglers here started to catch on the pole, one angler even subduing a 7lb carp on his light bream gear. With little major action reported elsewhere the winner was expected from these pegs.
Details of prestigious competiton confirmed.
Entries are now being accepted from invited anglers who wish to book in for this year’s Drennan Knockout Cup.
The event, which many regard as being among the most prestigious on the calendar, sees anglers compete over five rounds in a knockout competition, which takes place on commercial fisheries, canals and running water.
Round one this year is on the 20th May at the prolific Tunnel Barn Farm Fishery near Warwick.
New team, and individual sponsorships for tackle giant. Top
tackle firm, Drennan International has announced that they are to
sponsor two new teams, and five top flight individual consultants. River
fishing legend, Wayne Swinscoe, England Feeder Team ace Dean Barlow, England Veteran Roger Marlow,
South East rod Chris Vandervleit, and East Anglian matchman, Steve
Winters are all to join the stable as sponsored anglers. In
addition to the signings, Drennan have also sponsored the old Leicester
Sensas (now Drennan Leicester Sensas) and Milo Bordon (now Drennan
Bordon.
The heat is on for Power and Vallance… After a superb battle between this year’s four finalists, Rob Wootton, Gary Miller, Andy Power and Geoff Vallance, there were always going to be just two who would progress to day two of this final. The weigh in saw Gary and Rob fall short, leaving Andy and Geoff to battle it out today.
Yesterday’s event was held on the Match Pool, but in keeping with the last couple of year’s format, day two takes place on Mickey Mouse Pool, which is home to chub carp, roach, barbell and plenty of other species. It’s a super-exciting lake to fish and one that really offers a unique day’s fishing.
So here are the two anglers making day two…
With four even pegs the match was always going to be too close to call and that certainly proved the case.
Andy Power and Rob Wootton set an early pace on pegs five and eight. The general consensus suggested that 80lb would be enough to progress to day two.
Waggler and feeder tactics were the starting gambit for all, but it wasn't long until Gary, Andy and Rob were plundering the long pole line – a swim that Geoff had taken the decision not to feed preferring to rely on a short meat line only.
This year’s final is underway LIVE at Docklow Pools, Leominster. Reporting LIVE From the bankside, today and tomorrow sees the final of the ultra-prestigious Drennan Knockout Cup final.
From a 100-plus strong elite starting line-up earlier in the year the contestants have been whittled down over five arduous rounds spanning rivers, canals and commercials, to leave just four stars! (From left to right on the image) Geoff Valance, Gary Miller, Rob Wootton and Andy Power.
In a change to the usual format, which usually sees two anglers compete on day one and carry their weight into day two, this year’s final will see all four compete on day one with the two anglers having the best weights progressing to day two.
Top team Drennan North West boost its squad. Drennan North West has strengthened its ranks after signing some exceptionally talented young anglers. Squad captain Steve Conroy explained: “We recently had a meeting with some of the senior members of the squad and decided that if we wanted to remain competitive with teams like Barnsley and Dorking we would have to look to strengthen the squad with some hungry young anglers. “Some of the Welsh contingent in the squad fish Weston Pools regularly and identified commercial specialists Robbie Griffiths, Matty Dawes and Michael Rough who have all been regular winners.
The humble readymade pole rig has just been dragged into the 21st century by tackle giant Drennan! Traditionally the domain of the ‘pleasure’ angler and newcomers to the sport, Drennan’s pre-tied pole rigs surpass anything that’s currently out there, which makes them a very real consideration for anglers of allabilities and experience levels. There are no signs of mismatched hooks, badly undershotted floats andbizarre shotting patterns – these rigs have been over a year in development, hand-tied in Drennan’s own factories and based on five-time World Champion, Alan Scotthorne’s rig diagrams.
That makes them as close as you can possibly get in mass production to the rigs that Alan actually ties himself!
Designed to cope with most commercial fishery applications, there are four styles of rig available: Carp & F1s, Big Carp, Silverfish & F1s and Margin Carp.
We were particularly impressed with the shotting patterns and the sensible sizes of shot used, from No10s to No8s.
England finding the going tough in Croatia.
After Day One of the 61st World Championships in Croatia, it is looking unlikely that Drennan Team England will be able to add another gold to their tally.
As was predicted the venue has proved to be an extremely tough nut to crack with many of the favoured teams struggling to get to grips with it. The draw also seemingly playing its part in the results.
Crystal Dibber creates huge demand for Drennan
The Crystal Dibber has captured the imagination of anglers the length and breadth of the country with tens of thousands already sold since Drennan unveiled them just a couple of months ago.
A spokesman for Drennan commented: “We knew these floats would be popular, but no-one could have quite predicted the unprecedented level of demand. Shops have been placing reorders for 100 or more trade packs of each of the three sizes currently available. That’s 3,000 Dibbers!
“We’ve put a considerable amount of time into developing our unique machinery, capable of blow-moulding these tiny clear-plastic bodies, so it’s great to see so many anglers appreciating it!”
Shops are hailing the float as a huge success.
Editor, Alex Bones, checks out what’s new… To add to its already glowing portfolio of products, Shimano and Dynamite have some new additions for release before the end of this year. Match Fishing Editor, Alex Bones, visited the HQ to find out what’s in store.
First up is the new mid-price-range Super Ultegra AX Match and Feeder range of rods available in three match (float), five feeder versions and one winkle picker model to cover a multitude of disciplines.
Designed with performance and versatility in mind the feeder versions are available in lengths from 11ft to 14ft, the float ones in 13ft, 14ft and 15ft versions and the little winkle picker, which is likely to be a hit on many of today’s commercials, comes in one version, 8ft-9ft.
Organisers of the Evesham Angling Festival are celebrating a new sponsorship for one of match fishing’s showpiece events.
Dynamite Baits – one of the top manufacturers of fishing baits in the UK - has agreed to become title sponsor for The Dynamite Baits Individual Evesham Championship – the headline event of the Evesham Angling Festival. The match, which invites 35 of the nation’s top anglers and pits them against 35 qualifiers, carries a top prize of £3,000 and kicks off the biggest spectator angling event in the calendar.
Dynamite is a great fit for the event,” said festival director Roger Mortimer.
Shipp, Ashby and Raison winning their sections. Match Fishing's runners on the bank report that Drennan Team England have taken a convincing early lead, at the end of the first hour of the World Championship on the Żerański Channel in Warsaw, Poland. In A section, Des Shipp is winning his section, and could even be leading the match overall with several chunky pommies, and two bonus skimmers of 1lb each. He is thought to have well over 1kg in weight.
